Star-crossed lovers - meet Sephy and Callum

Monday 18th July 2016

This August, Nottingham Playhouse’s Youth Theatre present Noughts and Crosses, the stage adaptation of the critically-acclaimed YA novel by Malorie Blackman. In her alternate vision of the world, people are split into the lower class Noughts, and the upper class Crosses, with tensions rife between the two groups as the struggle for equality threatens to spill over into violence.

In the midst of this upheaval, two teenagers connect despite their different backgrounds. Meet our protagonists, Callum and Sephy.

Callum McGregor
Callum is a 16 year old Nought. He lives in a small, humble house with his mum, dad, brother and sister. Along with a few other extremely high-achieving Noughts, Callum has been accepted to study at Heathcroft, a prestigious school for Crosses. Callum is intelligent and strong-minded, but his desires are simple: equal rights for Noughts, and the freedom to be with Sephy. This sometimes causes Callum an internal conflict, as he struggles to find a balance between his beliefs and his family’s sometimes militant stance.

Persephone Hadley
Persephone, Sephy for short, is a 14 year old Cross girl. Sephy has a pure and loving heart but, due to her upbringing, is extremely naïve. She is the daughter of Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Hadley, a leader who is very much interested in keeping the status quo and maintaining the divisions between Noughts and Crosses. But Sephy wants what Callum wants: equal rights and the opportunity to be with him, as more than friends. Sephy attempts to help improve the situation with actions that have good intentions, but she soon learns that even from her position of privilege, she is powerless.

What will become of our star-crossed lovers? Can Callum and Sephy find love when the world around them is so unstable? You’ll have to make a trip to Nottingham Playhouse on Saturday 27 August to find out! This punchy piece of theatre delivered by a young cast is as important now as ever – click here to book your tickets for Noughts and Crosses today.